East New York

Over the weekend the Post reported that the attention-grabbing Occupy Wall Street takeover of a vacant house in foreclosure in East New York was little more that a publicity stunt that hadn’t actually succeeded in providing housing to people in need of it, and yesterday the people behind the occupation issued a series of statements responding to the story’s claims in an effort to debunk some of them. OWS organizers say that Wise Ahadzi, the homeowner who abandoned the house a couple years ago after foreclosure proceedings began, hadn’t told them that he was intent on reclaiming his property, as the Post reported: “According to statements Mr. Ahadzi made to the New York Post yesterday, he is apparently now interested in reclaiming his home. Given that, Alfredo Carrasquillo and members of Occupy Wall Street will support Mr. Ahadzi’s efforts, so that neither his family or Alfredo’s is homeless, and so that the house at 702 Vermont does not sit vacant.” Meanwhile, Alfredo Carrasquillo, the community organizer who is supposed to be moving into the East New York house with his family, responded to the story’s allegations that it didn’t appear like he’d moved into the property and it was only being lived in by Occupy Wall Street protesters: “On December 6, I moved into a vacant, Bank of America-foreclosed property with the support of neighbors on Vermont St. because my family — victims of Michael Bloomberg’s housing policies and the big banks’ callous disregard for people — had been homeless for years. The support I received from the community was overwhelming, in part because they have also been victims of those same policies. …I invited members of Occupy Wall Street to inhabit the house with me, until it was safe for my family to move in, as a defense against the mayor’s policy of using the police department to defend property over people.”
Owner of OWS Foreclosure in ENY Wants His House Back [Brownstoner]
Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh

Last month members of Occupy Wall Street took over a home in East New York, saying they were going to renovate the property, which was empty following a foreclosure, so a homeless family could live in it. According to the Post, though, the family that was supposed to move in has yet to fully do so—it’s unclear from the story if this is because the house has yet to be completely renovated or if there’s simply not enough space for the family—and the person who owns the house but moved out after foreclosure proceedings began in 2009 wants his property back from the occupiers. Wise Ahadzi, the homeowner, says he bought the property for $424,500 in 2007 and stopped being able to make mortgage payments a couple years later, after he’d lost his job and the house’s value had plummeted. Ahadzi claims the Occupy Wall Street organizers aren’t willing to entertain the notion of reinstating Ahadzi and his children in the house: “I’m trying to get my house back, and they’re trying to take it from me.” The article is hardly a nuanced portrait of whatever is actually going on at 702 Vermont Street, so it remains to be seen whether what it suggests is accurate: That occupying the East New York foreclosure was a PR stunt and it hasn’t resulted in anyone who actually needed housing getting a roof over their heads.
Single Dad Trying to Reclaim Home OWS Took Over [NY Post]
Occupiers Fixing Up a Foreclosure in East New York [Brownstoner]
Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh